Took out the MOP & gave it a work out... anyone ever play with M.O.P. ???

if you guys have seen my posts, you know I collect old top breaks & early pocket cartridge guns...

along with that collecting, over the couple years, I also ended up with several extra old sets of MOP grips, either bought alone, & they didn't fit as per the description, or they came ill fitting on a gun I bought, or they had a lot of chips, & I replaced them with something better...

...one of such ill fitting grip guns I received, was an old S&W top break in 32 S&W, with the grip safety... it came with ill fitting hard rubber grips, which I pulled right away, but I didn't have anything that fit them properly...

... I also had a set of MOP grips, that were badly chipped up, I don't remember if I pulled them from a gun & replaced the grips, or if this was a set I bought outright, but when I put the pin in the hole, a good portion of the grips outline followed the grip frame... the MOP was too big, & most of the damage, could be cut off, when fit to the lil S&W

... well, last night ( one of the benefits of finally being able to display all my guns ) I just got sick of looking at the gun with the chipped, oversize, MOP's screwed to the grip frame, & I got out a sharpie marker, & my dremel with a couple file stones, & went to work...

1st off, the dust is nasty ( & I read it's very bad for your lungs, so if you're going to do this, you should at minimum wear a dust mask ) I didn't have one handy, so I limited my time, & tried to avoid the dust as best I could... but in about 20 minutes, & with 2 stones, I was able to rough fit one of the MOP scales... I had to reform the part circle on the top, with the flats on each side, which as far as rough fitting, & my 1st attempt, actually came out pretty good... I'd suspect using a scribe & the gun frame to draw the outline, would work better, but I was able to get a nice grip panel, with only 2 small nicks on the 1st one ( which was the only damaged panel, before starting ) I'll take a dust mask down next time, & expect I'll have the other done soon, then I'll just need to polish out the edges I ground down...

anyone else ever work with MOP ??? got any suggestions for a newbie ??? I was using the sharpie to darken the edges where they were high, then grinding the black off, & that seemed to work well for general shaping... I may want to find a better way to do the radiused top part, if anyone has suggestions... I may find I just get better with it as I go, this was after all my very 1st attempt at any grip...

my goal here, is to try to use up 3-4 extra sets, by getting them to fit existing guns, & possibly... I always thought Abalone would look cool as a grip media, & you never see them, so maybe some day, make a set from a big shell I have laying around ???

Real mother-of-pearl is hard to get any more. The types of shellfish cultivated and the average size at harvest, as well as the larger size of handgun grips preferred today, make it virtually impossible to get pieces of sufficient size to make grips out of, but there are scales available from custom knife-making supplies sources.

Mother-of-pearl is brittle and needs a backer in order to not chip. Many MOP grips from the early 20th Century did not have backing and would split or crack when the grip screws were tightened. Chipping is also common, as you have seen. You can epoxy a thin backing to the grips you have to make them less likely to chip or crack. Use sandpaper to work the material, avoid power tools as they put dust in the air, and anything that was once alive (including wood) can cause allergic reactions and may not be good for you.

MOP also loses its luster as it dries out, and polishing occasionally can restore shine and depth of luster to grips that have a dull look.

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